Whats behind the christian myth of god testing your faith?

[MM1988]

So according to bible myths god tests your faith by sending you trough hard times.

What is really meant with this behind all the stories and metaphors?

I mean if your life is shit after shit and you have just bad luck in a row, what difference does it make if you stay faithful and endure it or if you have emotional outbursts, go crazy, become atheist, kill yourself etc.?

I think fundamentalists belive you should have faith to go into heaven but I think we can agree this is bullshit, so what is behind this story from a nondual perspective?

Wasnt there a story in the bible where god made someones life a living hell just to test his faith and in the end killed him anyway?

Whats the practical difference to the materialist paradigm? Soulless atoms bouncing around in a box or god shitting all over your life, shit happens anyway, sometimes a lot and for no reason.

[MM1988]

Here is something interresting from a christian website

Quote

Most comforting of all, we know that God will never allow us to be tested beyond what we are able to handle by His power. His grace is sufficient for us, and His power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). “That is why,” Paul said, “for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

This is obviously false right? Because a lot of people kill themselves and suicides are on the rise.

[Seiden]

Hi, This is just a humble explanation.

If you agree that heaven may be pointing to awakening on this metaphor,and that God refers to your True self, 

It means that all the hard experiences are chances given to us (from us) in order to awaken from this dream called reality.

After all, There is only God and nothing else, So we are challenging ourselves to ultimately awaken.

 

 

[MM1988]

I feel like the stuff that happens to me keeps me from awakening. It's hard on my self esteem and I'm trying to fix my ego for a decade now because I know its necessary to go further in awakening. But for some reason unfortunate coincidences keep piling up and up and its just takes away all my energy.

Sometimes I feel like my life is engineered perfectly to drive me slowly into suicide.

[kieranperez]

Read “Ressurecting Jesus” by Adyashanti

he does an amazing job clearing this stuff up and putting Christian mysticism into its proper light

Try treating Christian Proverbs like Zen Koans. 

Edited November 12, 2018 by kieranperez

[Leo Gura]

@MM1988 You are failing to take full responsibility for your life and falling into the trap of victim mentality.

What you presently think of as "bad luck" is actually likely the result of egoic ways in which you live your life. Which can be changed.

Suffering is NOT an accident. There is a big component of it which is self-inflicted. So starting thinking about how to change your ways to align more with truth, goodness, love, and selflessness.

[Seiden]

Hope you get better soon MM1988

I’ve learned that in the world of duality the majority of good thing bring bad things and vice versa.

But  the bad things are the ones that helping on growing the most.

Although I’m not giving advice, because you are probably far more advanced than me.

Its an interesting question.

Thank you

[FoxFoxFox]

@MM1988 There is nothing behind it. Christianity has a lot of valuable teachings but this is not one of them. There is no cosmic judge testing your actions, at least not in the popular sense of the man on the cloud doing the judging. That particular topic was written by an ego who was separate from its true nature by a large margin, and it reflects deeply egoistic thought. If you are interested in Christianity, i suggest studying the life of Christ the man and the stories attributed to to him, rather than the bible. 

The idea of "judgment" is analogues to Karma in the eastern thought. There is a lot of philosophical discourse regarding the topic, but at the end of the day, just be and all this loses its significance. 

[MM1988]

@Leo Gura How is suffering self inflicted if you get a lung cancer diagnosis when you never smoked a cigarette.

Sure, the suffering is not directly caused by the external but most peoples psychology and neuronal network will be in a state that causes a stream of bad emotions if this happens. And they are not responsible for how their brain developed during their childhood.

You dont have to pity yourself like a victim but in some sense you are a victim. If you start feeling responsible for something like that you will just go crazy on top of it.

Also, if you feel like a victim or not in that moment doesnt matter, you will suffer anyway. You brain will interpret what is happening to you as bad over and over again. And if you feel better for a momrnt your mind will tell you you are bullshitting yourself and pull you back. You get literally tortured by your own mind.

 

This lung cancer examples applies to almost all "lesser" problems equally.

Edited November 12, 2018 by MM1988

[RichardY]

 

[MM1988]

@RichardY thats what I meant!

[RichardY]

Apparently Jung considered his "answer to Job" his best Work. You might want to read it, Many self help authors reference Jung. I haven't read it, but his conclusion is something like God is not Moral, if he were he wouldn't be all knowing. In that sense man maybe, superior to God. 

Whether you want to say the self is equivalent to a spiritual entity(God), or a meat bag collection of cells. The self you perhaps could say is not moral. It is the ego that is moral. Got the flu myself, so not going to expend much brainpower for now, No God yet!!! or period, like to see how different things contrast.

 

[kieranperez]

7 hours ago, MM1988 said:

@Leo Gura How is suffering self inflicted if you get a lung cancer diagnosis when you never smoked a cigarette.

Sure, the suffering is not directly caused by the external but most peoples psychology and neuronal network will be in a state that causes a stream of bad emotions if this happens. And they are not responsible for how their brain developed during their childhood.

You dont have to pity yourself like a victim but in some sense you are a victim. If you start feeling responsible for something like that you will just go crazy on top of it.

Also, if you feel like a victim or not in that moment doesnt matter, you will suffer anyway. You brain will interpret what is happening to you as bad over and over again. And if you feel better for a momrnt your mind will tell you you are bullshitting yourself and pull you back. You get literally tortured by your own mind.

 

This lung cancer examples applies to almost all "lesser" problems equally.

You’re asking about Christian mysticism and talking about how you’re a legitimate victim in yet you’re conveniently overlooking the Christian Mystic himself, Christ. Christ wasn’t saying “oh whoas me” for what happened to him. Ramana Maharshi is still the same when he too died of cancer and same with Suzuki Roshi. Sure they went through the physical pain that arises with cancer but that’s not the same thing as suffering from it. Go through what you have to go through gracefully and responsibly. I’m not saying you can do this overnight in reaching that end of suffering. 

Heres the thing: you don’t matter. That’s not jut exclusive to you though. Look at the millions of people who can’t afford a bite to eat. Life isn’t about fairness. Life isn’t about “having (your) time to shine”. You have a computer or phone in front of you that can give you leads and resources to solving your problems (hint: you’re on one). 

I understand what you’re saying about feeling like you’re just destined to fail and being driven to fail. I know because, in a sense, that’s where I am now. I 23 at home with my Dad and little brother, dropped out of college in what I thought would be a gap semester, and now it seems like my little brother whose a senior in high school is likely to leave the house before me and I’ve never lived on my own. So I get it. All I can really say to you is that YOU are causing this. Depending on where you are in your neurosis it can be really hard to make a decision to take responsibility but, the longer you wait, the harder it gets. Life is both indifferent to you but also isn’t out to get you. You are out to get you. You just don’t know it (yet).

[Forestluv]

@MM1988 It's a strategy for a self to cope with life.

From a nondual perspective, you are God. So God would be "testing" itself.

You seem to be conflating pain and suffering.

[MM1988]

@Serotoninluv I just doubt someone can feel pain (physical and psychological) his whole life without suffering. Suffering is a fascinating topic.

[Hellspeed]

On 12.11.2018 at 8:13 AM, MM1988 said:

So according to bible myths god tests your faith by sending you trough hard times.

What is really meant with this behind all the stories and metaphors?

I mean if your life is shit after shit and you have just bad luck in a row, what difference does it make if you stay faithful and endure it or if you have emotional outbursts, go crazy, become atheist, kill yourself etc.?

I think fundamentalists belive you should have faith to go into heaven but I think we can agree this is bullshit, so what is behind this story from a nondual perspective?

Wasnt there a story in the bible where god made someones life a living hell just to test his faith and in the end killed him anyway?

Whats the practical difference to the materialist paradigm? Soulless atoms bouncing around in a box or god shitting all over your life, shit happens anyway, sometimes a lot and for no reason.

When a human being enters the journey of self-discovery it is a very painful process, due to the re-routing of the physical an emotional processes that lead to genuine awakening. Remember! No Pain, No Gain. Those who deluded themselves of a pleasurable journey are stuck in their heads. Only in pain, one encounters the bliss.